


The Reconstruction of Mollymauk Tealeaf

by FeralScribe



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Canon Rewrite, Don’t copy to another site, Empty Molly, Episodes 30-32, Other, Resurrection, Temporary Amnesia, Yasha and Molly are Soulmates, bathhouse, relearning to speak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-11-01 22:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralScribe/pseuds/FeralScribe
Summary: Molly came back empty.The Mighty Nein did everything in their power to bring him back before returning to Zadash. Now they must face the possibility that the man who climbed out of a grave for the second time won't be the same Molly they remember.





	The Reconstruction of Mollymauk Tealeaf

Molly came back empty.

They had all worked together to bring him back, indulged by Ophelia Mardun on their way to Zadash. Jester and Caduceus performed the spell together, channeling both their deities and aided by the others’ offerings in a ritual that Caduceus’s family taught him. Nott had poured out enough of her flask to make a small pool at the head of the grave that Caleb had mostly dug up with his magic cat’s paw. Yasha slashed open her arm the way Molly did to activate his swords, but she let her blood fall to the ground like healing rain. Caleb summoned his lights to guide Molly home. Beau and Fjord stood sentry to keep anyone from interrupting, friend, foe, or otherwise.

And Molly awoke, but he awoke empty.

They were prepared for this. It doesn’t make it any easier. Molly claws out of his shallow grave, wild-eyed and weak, coughing up a mouthful of mud. The sight of so many people standing around him makes him cower in the dirt. When they call to him, he doesn’t answer, not to “Molly” or “Lucien” or even “Nonagon”. His tail whips and twitches anxiously. When cowering doesn’t work he braces himself on all fours and bares his fangs in a raspy hiss.

It’s Caduceus who gets through to him first. His soothing presence works its miracles on Molly — everyone agrees they’ll keep calling him Molly even if he can’t remember why — and he manages to coax him up and out of the grave with a promise of refreshments. Molly devours the rations given to him, but it’s the water he’s most excited for. He snatches Caduceus’s water skin with such force that his nails tear a small hole in it. That doesn’t bother him. He just throws his head back and lets the water run down his throat, inside and out.

“I imagine it’s uh, pretty dry in the ground,” Caduceus says. “Though I suppose if it rained hard enough some might have reached him. I mean, it’s not like he was alive to drink it, but maybe he could have...” Caduceus continues to muse to himself while the others approach and try to explain to the empty man what they meant to him once.

“This is Fjord. You used to share a room when we stayed at inns.”

“This is Yasha, your best friend. You two were in a carnival together.”

“This is Jester. I don’t know if you’re aware that you’re a tiefling, but she is too.”

There’s no recognition in Molly’s eyes. He stares at whomever is being reintroduced to him, but his expression is blank, save for what might be a hint of curiosity. He stares longer at Yasha. Beau reaches out to jostle him to get his attention so he can look at Nott, but Fjord grabs her arm.

“I don’t think he wants to be touched right now,” Fjord says.

“Oh, right.”

Since Molly’s coat had somehow survived the week it took them to get back to him, they bring it with them in case he wants it again someday. It breaks everyone’s heart when they have to bribe him with food to get him to follow them to the waiting carriages, like he’s some stray animal they’re luring into a trap. He can barely walk, but they’re all too scared to help him. Yasha asks him several times if he wants her to carry him. He looks at her with a tilt of his head and doesn’t answer, but shies away when she reaches for him.

“He said the last time this happened it took a week for him to say anything other than ‘empty’,” Caleb reminds them all. “But he also said things ‘came back quick’ to him. I would suggest we talk to someone who was there when the carnival found him, but we only know where Gustav is, and that is not a simple trip to the market.”

“We should take him anyway,” Yasha says. “If it will help him get his memory back, we should try everything we can, no matter how long it takes.”

“Cree might know how to fix him,” Nott suggests. “Maybe this is something that just happens to people with their powers.”

“Yeah, but she wouldn’t know who Molly is, just Lucien,” Beau points out.

“Oh, right.”

They keep talking to Molly the whole way back to Zadash. Yasha has stories from the carnival and how much he helped her when they first met. After a while Molly listens to her intently. Perhaps that’s because it’s the only thing to do in the cramped carriage — made even more so since the rest are trying to give Molly his space — but it’s something. Everyone shares their own memories of him. There’s no way to know if he even understands what they’re saying, if he’s even retaining any of this information.

“There’s something else we could try,” Caleb says on their third day of travel. Molly has calmed down considerably and doesn’t make a fuss about getting in and out of the carriage anymore, but he still hasn’t said a word. “There is a powerful spell that robs a person of all their intelligence. This might be a similar effect, though I don’t know how or why he came to be affected by it. It is...a spellcaster’s nightmare. It reduces you to just your base instincts, unable to talk or remember your spell components, very good for neutralizing someone whose strength lies in their mind. From what I’ve read about it, it takes at least a month to wear off on its own, though some clerics and healers can overcome it to restore your senses.”

Jester shakes her head sadly. “I don’t think I can do anything like that.”

“Me either,” Caduceus says. “Some members of my family might have been able to, but uh...that doesn’t help us at the moment.”

“They’ve got temples in Zadash,” Beau says. “We’ll take him to all of them and see who can do what. He’s our fucking friend and we’re going to get him back.”

* * *

The day before they reach Zadash, Molly decides he’s ready to be touched. They had all avoided it except for the occasional guiding tap to the shoulder, and that made him jump and hiss so they relied more on waving to beckon him to and fro. They’re setting up camp and Molly wanders over to Yasha. He comes up behind her and taps her on the shoulder. He flinches when she whirls around to see who it is.

“Oh, Molly, I’m sorry. I did not mean to frighten you. Did you— Did you need something?”

Molly stays bunched up for a moment, then gradually relaxes. He takes a step closer and lowers his head. He nudges it in her direction. When she doesn’t do anything he reaches up with a shaking hand and lightly claws at his hair. It’s matted and dirty, since the closest thing to a bath he has had is when they provided him with a damp washcloth and showed him how to clean himself. Yasha calls for the others. Molly bats at his hair again, but with more of a patting motion. The Mighty Nein gather in time to watch Yasha take a step forward and gingerly lay her hand on his head. Molly cranes his neck to push into her palm, the way Frumpkin does when he wants attention.

Jester gasps. “Molly! Does this mean you’re not afraid of us anymore?”

Molly isn’t listening. His eyes are closed. There’s a smile on his face and a pleased tic in his tail. Yasha stares at him with awe. A single tear beads at the corner of her eye.

“Molly...” she murmurs, brushing the hair back between his horns.

“Friends.”

Everyone freezes, hearts in their throats.

Molly smiles wider and repeats himself. “Friends.” He notices Yasha has stopped petting him. He gives her a curious look. “Friends?”

Yasha’s chin quivers. More tears gather in her eyes. “Molly,” she chokes. “Yes, we are friends.”

“Friends,” Molly says with an air of satisfaction. He closes his eyes again as she resumes stroking his hair. He says quietly to himself, “Friends, friends, friends...”

“Aw, that’s nice,” Caduceus says.

“I mean, it makes sense,” Beau says. “That’s the word we’ve said to him the most, right?”

Fjord nods. “Yeah, but it sounds like he might actually know what it means.”

Jester bounces on the balls of her feet, fists pressed to her cheeks as she squeals. “_Oh my gosh oh my gosh I need to draw this Yasha stay right there and don’t let him get away_.” She dashes off to retrieve her sketchbook. Neither Molly nor Yasha seems like they have any intent to go elsewhere.

That night, with the promise of more petting, Yasha is able to finally rinse the dirt from Molly’s hair. He doesn’t like having it brushed, but Yasha remembers all the places Molly liked to be touched when he wanted comfort. They’re a comfort to her as well, since they still work.

Molly falls asleep with his head in Yasha’s lap, soothed by her caresses and humming happily to himself.

* * *

They don’t take Molly anywhere near Cree. Yasha and Jester lead him straight to the Pillow Trove while the others collect their reward. Even so, Cree approaches them with a look of concern.

“Where is Lucien?” she asks.

“Resting,” Fjord says. “The trip took a toll on him.”

Cree nods, brow still furrowed. “I sensed something terrible happen to him, but I know he returned to the city with you. Does he need healing? I can help him.”

“Ah, no, it’s uh...more of a mental affliction than a physical one,” Fjord says. “Few days of sleep and he’ll be back on his feet.”

“Well, alright. I would like to speak to him soon, if I may.”

“He’s not really in a talking mood,” Beau says. “Shit went down, everyone got shaken up, Moll…Lucien got it worst, so we’re thinking of taking a few weeks off to recuperate, give the poor guy a break.”

“Oh... Well, so long as he is alright.”

“Peachy keen,” Fjord says.

“Yes, good as new,” Caleb adds. The rest give him a look. He’s just sad Molly isn’t there to laugh at his stupid joke, and sadder that in Molly’s current state he probably wouldn’t laugh anyway.

Jester sends them a message saying they can tell the people at the Pillow Trove that they’re the Mighty Nein and they’ll let them come up to their rooms. They have their usual three, and when Beau opens the door to the girls’ room she is greeted by an unexpected yet heartwarming sight. She puts a finger to her lips and gestures for the others to come see.

Curled up on the bed, face mushed into Yasha’s chest and tail draped over Jester as she holds him from behind, is a very content-looking Molly. Yasha is stroking his hair affectionately with a warm smile.

Jester puts her tail to her mouth since both of her hands are around Molly. “_Shh_,” she whispers. “He’s asleep.” She bites her lip and her tail wriggles in delight. “It was so cute you guys!” she says in a hushed yet excited tone. “Yasha went to lie down and Molly climbed right in next to her then he reached out to me with his tail and said ‘Friends?’ in this super sweet voice and now he’s so happy just look at him isn’t he so _cuuute?_”

“Friends?” Molly stretches back into Jester. “Friends?” he mumbles again.

“Oh, Molly, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Jester squeezes Molly in a hug. “Everyone is back now. Did you want to get some food?”

“Friends,” Molly grunts with a pout. He nuzzles closer to Yasha, who beams at him.

“We can bring y’all something to eat,” Fjord says. “It’s probably best for him to get some real sleep on a real bed.”

Jester nods. “He also needs a real _bath_. I’m glad he’s back, but he’s stinky.” She gasps with a wide-eyed smile. “We can take him to the bathhouse! He _loved _the bathhouse! Maybe it’ll help him remember something!”

“Tomorrow,” Fjord promises. “Today, we let him rest.”

Molly goes back to sleep until Beau brings him dinner. She ordered him a plate of fruit and the most decadent dessert on the menu, a slice of chocolate cake oozing with melted fudge and fruit sauce and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. It’s still warm, too. Molly ignores the fork Beau offers him in favor of grabbing a fistful to shove in his mouth. Beau hastily throws Yasha a napkin so she can lay it out beneath Molly and prevent any chocolate from staining the sheets. Molly lets out the most satisfied indulgent moan as his eyes roll back into his head. Yasha and Beau grin at each other. That was a very Molly thing for him to do.

* * *

The next day they take Molly to the bathhouse. He’s still skittish around the hustle and bustle of the city, which is worse these days because of the war. He clings to Yasha whenever a Crownsguard marches past them. Yasha puts her arm around him protectively. She glares at anyone who gives him a funny look.

Nott and Beau work together to scare off everyone else in the public bathing area. There were only five other people in there, one couple and a group of three, and they were already put off by the sudden appearance of the Mighty Nein. It doesn’t take much to convince them to scram. With all the strangers gone, it’s safe to bring Molly out.

Molly doesn’t like being naked. He’s hunched over trying to cover as much of himself as possible. His tail is tucked so far between his legs that its tip nearly reaches back up over his shoulder. “Friends?” he asks timidly.

“It’s okay Molly,” Jester says. “It’s just us in here. Look! The water is nice and warm.” She dips her tail into the steaming surface. Molly does the same, though he jerks his tail back out immediately. Jester swirls her tail around to show him it’s fine. He tests it again, and this time he sinks his tail in a few inches, then a few inches more, and a few more. Jester gets into the water and holds her hands out to him. “Come on in. We’ve got you.”

The others get into the water to encourage him. Soon it’s just him, Yasha, and Nott standing at the edge. Molly looks to all the smiling faces waiting for him. “F-Friends,” he says resolutely. Yasha helps lower him into the bath. He winces and twitches as his body acclimates. Eventually he relaxes.

Fjord shows him how to swim. Molly copies him clumsily, but he manages to keep his head above the water. He prefers splashing around with both feet on the floor. He slaps at the water with his hands and tail. Yasha playfully splashes him. He blinks at her, then his mouth curls up into a grin. A splash fight breaks out between everyone. Nott referees from the side where she sits with her feet dangling in the water.

Then they hear the most wonderful sound any of them has heard in weeks: laughter. Molly’s laughter.

Everyone stops to listen. Molly aims another splash at Caleb, teeth still flashing as he laughs joyfully. Then he realizes everyone is staring at him. He recoils into himself.

“Friends?” He’s meek, like a child caught doing something they didn’t know was bad.

Yasha takes three long strides as fast as she can through the water to scoop him into a hug. “It’s okay, Molly,” she says. “You surprised us, that’s all. We haven’t heard you laugh in so long. It was good, understand? You did a good thing. It was so good we didn’t know what else to do.” The others chime in with their agreement.

Molly patters his tail on the surface of the water. Jester comes up beside him and slaps her tail on the water harder. He slaps harder than she did. She slaps even harder. His smile returns. They continue their competition until Molly slaps his tail so hard on the water that he yelps in pain.

“Okay, you win!” Jester exclaims. “And your prize is…_getting cleeean!_”

They wash away the last of the grave dirt from Molly’s skin and the grooves of his horns. Molly deals with his privates, since none of them feels comfortable touching him there. He’s starting to look more like himself. There’s a lingering uncanny blankness behind his red eyes, as though he isn’t quite seeing the whole world around him just yet. The laughter gave them hope, though, and they carry it with them all the way back to the Pillow Trove.

* * *

Molly’s next two words are “Thank you.” He says it to Caduceus when the firbolg passes him a basket of rolls at the dinner table a few days later. As with every little milestone, the Mighty Nein all stop what they’re doing to make sure they heard him right. They have further reason to do so this time. Caleb offers him the platter of butter while the others wait with bated breath. Molly smiles and takes it. “Thank you.”

His accent is different.

He still sounds like Molly, but…off. It’s like the words are coming from a different place in his mouth. None of them says it out loud, but they all tell themselves that they can’t be sure yet. It’s just two words. As he learns to speak again the accent will return, right?

Or is this someone else?

* * *

Molly’s next words come two days later. Not all at once, but he’s definitely getting better.

“Hello,” he says when he first sees everyone in the morning.

“Please,” he says when reaching for a bunch of grapes at breakfast.

“Sorry,” he says when Yasha asks him if he remembers anything from before his death yet.

“Come here,” he says immediately after, holding his arms out for a hug when Yasha covers her eyes to keep herself from crying.

They all gather in the girls’ room the next day, sitting in a circle. “Mollymauk,” Caleb says. “What are our names?”

Molly looks around. “Nnn-n-names?”

Caleb doesn’t want to smile yet. There’s still so much that could go wrong. “Yes, Molly. What are our names? Can you remember them?”

Molly scrunches his nose in thought. He points to himself. “M-Mol-ly?”

A few of them let out the breaths they were holding. “Yes,” Caleb says. “You are Molly. What are _our _names?”

Molly looks to Yasha. “Ya— _Yasha?_”

Yasha grins from ear to ear. “Yes, I am Yasha.”

“…Nott?”

“That’s me!”

“…F-F— Fjord?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Caaa…leb?”

“_Sehr gut!_”

“Jes? Jes_ter!_”

“You got it, Molly!”

Molly pauses when he gets to Caduceus. He opens his mouth but no sound comes out. He closes his eyes tight, teeth bared as he thinks. “C— C— C—”

“It’s okay,” Caduceus says. “You didn’t know me before. I’m Caduceus. Or Clay. They’re both my name. You can call me whichever. Or both. Uh…both is a bit of a mouthful though and I don’t know if you’re quite there yet. How about just ‘Clay’ for now?”

Molly stares. He tilts his head to one side.

Caduceus points to himself. “Clay.”

“…C— Clllaaay.”

Caduceus grins. “There you go.”

All that’s left is Beau. Molly looks at her, his expression a little blank. Her heart sinks. It wouldn’t be the first time she was the odd one out, the one forgotten. Molly leans in closer. Something mischievous sparks in his eyes and tugs the corners of his mouth into a smile. With utmost confidence and a shit-eating grin he says, “Fuck you, Beau.”

The Mighty Nein loses its collective shit. Jester and Nott scream in excitement at each other. Fjord repeatedly pounds the floor with both fists and whoops for joy. Beau launches herself at Molly to give him a hug. Molly pats her on the back. “Come here, friends,” he says. They all surround him in a group hug. Molly is in there somewhere, and he’s coming back.

* * *

Within a few days Molly uses complete sentences, though his vocabulary is still limited. They all take turns sitting and talking with him. They tell him about himself. They tell him about Mollymauk Tealeaf and all the wonderful things he can do. They present him with his old belongings, his swords and his coat and his Tarot deck. He doesn’t really remember any of them, but he likes them and he takes them, then listens as people talk about them. Caleb, with his perfect memory, has the most to tell Molly about himself. He fills in all the little details the others can’t. There’s one detail Molly is most curious about.

“Caleb?” he asks. His accent has gotten stronger every day, and Caleb is surprised at how much better he feels hearing Molly say his name this way. “Was I a good person?”

Caleb takes Molly’s hand. “You left everywhere better than you found it.”

Molly nods. “Beau said that. Does that make me a good person? Could have been a…a…” He frowns and searches for the word. “Not ‘mistake’… Not ‘accident’… C-Coinde— Co-in-ci-dence.”

“No, Mollymauk, it most certainly was not a coincidence. You were…strange, and you liked to trick people, but you did not harm anyone who wasn’t threatening innocent lives. You believed in ‘doing a good turn,’ as you put it. You did some…not-so-nice things to not-so-nice people, but you did it because you wanted to turn their nastiness back at them. You fought for justice and fairness. You were kind. You had a very big, very loving heart. You weren’t just good; you were the best of us.”

“Really?” Molly smiles. “I think I…I remember…some. I wanted to…to…help people.” He frowns again. “I was mean sometimes.”

“Yes, but as I said, never without cause. You were not cruel for the sake of being cruel.” Caleb struggles against his discomfort with people being in his personal space and musters enough courage to kiss Molly on the forehead. “You, erm… You did _that_ to people, a lot. It was your way of…showing that you cared.”

Molly thinks for a moment, then nods. “It is very nice.” He leans over and returns the kiss. “Thank you, darling.”

Caleb burns bright red. “You are most welcome, Mollymauk.”

There’s one more question Molly has about himself that he poses to the group over dinner that night. “Do I have to use my powers again? They sound…scary.”

“You don’t have to do _anything _you don’t want to, Molly,” Jester says. “But they aren’t scary. They’re _super _cool.”

Molly rubs the back of his neck, fingers tracing over the many many _many _scars. “But…I have to…hurt myself…” He shakes his head. “Bad,” is all he says.

Yasha puts her hand on his shoulder. “You’re very good with your swords, whether you use magic or not. And some of what you do doesn’t need your blood. You can do that thing where you say something in Infernal and make them go blind or…or whatever.”

Molly brings his hand around to his throat as though feeling for where that power lies. “Scared,” he whimpers softly.

“It’s okay, Molls,” Fjord says. “If using magic scares you, you don’t have to use it. My powers scare me sometimes. I mean, I’m _still _not sure where they come from. All I know is there’s a big eyeball thing that talks to me in my dreams and makes me cough up seawater. _That _is pretty scary.”

Molly gets up, walks over to Fjord, and kisses him on the head. “Sorry,” he says, gripping Fjord’s shoulder comfortingly. “Dream-Eye is a fucking prick.”

Fjord laughs. “It sure is.” He puts his hand on Molly’s. “Thank you.”

Molly smiles and goes back to his seat. He doesn’t talk for the rest of the meal.

* * *

After two weeks in Zadash the Mighty Nein decide to take a vacation to the Menagerie Coast. They need to find out who wanted the orb in Fjord’s chest delivered there, and Jester wants to visit her mother. Besides, the way things are heating up, there’s a chance they could be conscripted at a moment’s notice. Best thing for them to do is get out of the Empire for a bit. An added bonus is that Molly liked going new places before, and now everywhere is a new place to him again.

They set up camp once they’re a safe distance from the city. Fjord and Yasha take turns sparring with Molly. His combat prowess returns to him quickly. It’s hard for them to explain his fighting style to him, since neither of them has ever dual-wielded scimitars before. Even so, he has maintained his reflexes. He masters deflections and dodges within an hour, and shortly thereafter he lands a surprising blow on Fjord’s armor.

Molly stops. “Sorry,” he says. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, no Molly that was _good_. Well done.” Fjord tucks his falchion under his arm to applaud. The others clap for him too. Molly smiles.

Caleb shows Molly how to use the magic of Summer’s Dance. Molly closes his eyes in concentration. _Schhvvwff_. He disappears and reappears thirty feet away in the direction Caleb told him to focus. That makes Molly very happy. He closes his eyes again. Nothing happens. He frowns.

“What am I doing wrong?”

“Nothing,” Caleb says. “The effect only works once per day, I’m afraid.”

Molly pouts at his sword. “Well that sucks.”

“Boo hoo,” Beau says. “You can only magically teleport _once_. Not like the rest of us can do that.” She and Molly have gotten back to their friendly antagonizing banter. However, she emphasizes the sarcasm in her tone so he’ll know she’s just teasing. Molly shakes his head with a chuckle and flips her off.

That night Molly sits by the fire and shuffles through his Tarot cards again. He can’t remember what any of them mean, but he makes up meanings for them, much to the others’ amusement.

“This one here is the…the Shady Dealer. It means someone is going to try to sell you something and you have to tell them to fuck off. This one…is the Pissed Off Mother. It means you should do your chores or she’ll come smack you in the head. Ah, and this one is the Anvil, obviously. It means someone is going to hit you with a hammer!”

Everyone laughs. They go through their usual routine of each telling Molly one thing about himself before they go to sleep for the night. They’re running out of things to say. They are all painfully aware of how little they knew about him before his death. Fortunately, Molly has a few favorite “bedtime stories” that he’ll ask them to tell him again, such as his mischief at the hospital when he pretended to be sick, or the time at the Harvest Close Festival when Yasha and Jester threw Fjord during the catapult game which Molly eventually won. He falls asleep to that one while Fjord pouts in his own bedroll.

Something they hadn’t noticed because no one stayed up for watch at the inn and he was non-verbal the last time they were on the road is that Molly talks in his sleep now. Nott and Jester, who have the first watch shift, think it’s cute listening to him mumble incomprehensibly to himself. Then the twitching starts, and the whimpering.

“Where… _Where_…am I? Help… Can’t breathe… Let me go… _Let me go…_”

Only Jester can understand when he switches to muttering in Infernal. “_It’s mine. Give it back._”

She doesn’t tell Nott what it means.

The next morning Jester sits by Molly as they eat breakfast. So the others won’t know what she’s saying, she speaks to him in Infernal. It’s difficult because Molly’s Infernal vocabulary is still worse than his Common, but Jester has talked to him like this before to help him remember so at least it’s not _that _suspicious.

“Molly?” she asks. “Do you have bad dreams?”

“Bad…dreams?” Molly turns the phrase over in his mouth a few times until he remembers what it means. He shrugs. “I dream.”

“What do you dream about?”

Molly pokes at his food. It’s some vegetarian thing Caduceus made. “Things,” he says. “Music. Chewing.”

“Chewing?”

“Uh…” Molly switches to Common to say, “Running?”

“Oh!” Jester corrects his pronunciation in Infernal. “_Running_.”

Molly nods. “_Running_.”

“What are you running from?”

“Nothing. Just running. Running _to_ something.” He waves his hands to indicate a wide flat space. “Field. Flowers. Nice.”

Jester is more than a little confused. “You dream that you’re running in a field?”

“Yes.” Molly stretches one hand up to the sky. “Stars above. Night, but bright. Pretty. Peaceful.” Touching his ear he adds, “Music playing…somewhere. Chew— Running to find music. Never tired. Excited. Others running too. Away, but we sing together.” He smiles. “Good dream.”

“…Do you have other dreams?”

Molly’s smile fades. He sighs. “Yes.” His tail curls tight to his hip. “Dark. Cold. Somewhere away from…you all.”

“Alone?”

“Alone,” Molly repeats with a nod. He furrows his brow. “Afraid.”

“So there’s no one else in your dream?”

Molly shakes his head. “Not remember.” Switching back to Common he says, “I really don’t know what else to tell you. It’s just a weird dream I have sometimes. I mean, you’d have ones like that too if you’d just come back from the dead.” He smiles to show her he’s not upset. “They’re only dreams. I’m fine. Thanks for the Infernal practice, though.”

“You’re welcome.” Jester gives him a hug and finishes her breakfast, despite the knot of worry in her stomach that spoiled her appetite.

* * *

They reach Alfield that night. The day went by uneventful. Molly sits up at the front of the wagon with Caduceus. They have a long conversation about life in the Savalirwood and growing up in such a large family. The others listen in because this is the most they’ve heard Caduceus talk about himself since they met. Then again, no one really stopped to ask him anything, they just accepted that he was coming with them as an extra set of healing hands.

Molly grins when they spot Alfield in the distance, the shapes of the rooftops rising from the fields against the backdrop of the sunset. “I think I remember seeing the smoke,” he says. “Like the smoke that’s coming from the chimneys now, but more. Much more. And… And the light from the fire was noticeable from this far out, right?”

“That is correct,” Caleb says. He wants to hope. He wants to believe. The pessimistic part of his brain that he considers his rational thought tells him that Molly has these images in his mind because those memories were described so well to him by the others. Jester in particular loves adding dramatic descriptions to her stories. They’ve rebuilt their friend piece by piece, but Caleb fears that rather than puzzling together shards that they had all kept after Molly fell, they have instead convinced whatever woke up in Molly’s body that all those shards belong to it. His heart is heavy at the thought. He wishes he could have Molly back so much. He wishes for a lot of things, though, and he is still very very far from getting them.

They meet up with Bryce, who arranges for them to have rooms at the Feed and Mead again. They’re happy to see the Mighty Nein again, including the newest member.

“You are…very tall,” they tell Caduceus. “And uh…strange.”

Caduceus grins. “Yeah, I’ve noticed everyone else is very short. It’s fascinating.”

Molly bursts out laughing. The others were already chuckling, but the sound of Molly’s laughter, as always, brightens their spirits even more. Yasha ruffles Molly’s hair. He presses back into her hand so hard he stumbles when she stops, which prompts her to pet him again. Even now, with his senses mostly returned to him, Molly likes it when Yasha strokes his hair or pats him on the back or hugs him. He smiles and his tail swishes happily; his friends smile along with him.

Bryce comes to the inn after their shift to get a drink with everyone and swap stories. Things have been busy in the weeks they’ve been apart. No one mentions the Iron Shepherds or Molly’s death specifically, only that they “got into some trouble up north, but handled it with some help.” Bryce informs them that the Ashguard Keep was attacked and taken, but that’s old news. The town criers in Zadash were talking about that a month ago. Still, Bryce has friends in Bladegarden, for whom they are very concerned. The Mighty Nein offers them condolences and comfort. The sting of having friends stuck in dangerous places still hurts most of them.

Otherwise they all try to keep the mood light and cheery as they drink and chat. Molly gets to his preferred point of “drunk enough to relax but sober enough to be useful” then surpasses it with one last round before Bryce leaves. Yasha ends up half-carrying him to the boys’ room. Molly keeps his arms around her neck in a hug.

“You’re my best friend,” he mumbles to her.

Yasha pats his head. “You’re mine too, Molly.”

Molly holds her tight. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Yasha hugs him back. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Mmmhmmmmmeee toooo…” Molly’s words drift as he falls asleep on his feet. Yasha makes sure he’s tucked in to bed with his boots off before she leaves. He mutters more incoherent words of gratitude and affection, which she returns.

Yasha does miss sharing a tent with Molly. He was always there for her when she woke up from her nightmares. She’s going to be here for him from now on, unless the Storm Lord absolutely insists. Even then, she would fight her god at a moment’s notice if it meant she could keep Molly safe.

* * *

The following morning, Molly gets Jester’s attention before they officially join up with the group. “Jester,” he says quietly, jerking his head in a beckoning motion towards a secluded corner. He pronounces her name the way it’s said in Infernal.

Jester guesses he doesn’t want the others to know what he’s saying, so she replies in Infernal as well and follows him. “What is it, Molly?”

Molly scans the room. Beau is keeping an eye on them, but she’s out of earshot. Even so, the conversation remains out of Common. “Bad dream,” Molly says. He rubs his temple, partly to alleviate some of his hungover headache and partly to stir up the memories. His tail hangs limp behind him. “The one I told you before. Had it again, but worse. Remembered more.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jester asks.

Molly nods. “Dark cold place, alone, but then voices.” He winces. His Infernal sounds harsher as he lowers his voice further. “Try to get to them, but then there is someone else. They stop me.”

Jester has her theories, but doesn’t want to say any of them out loud yet. She reaches for Molly’s hand. He lets her take it and grips her tight. “Do you remember anything else?”

“I fight. _We _fight. Still dark, can’t see them. They want to take something from me.” Molly touches his throat lightly with his other hand. “They choke me. I can’t die. It hurts. Scared. Try to get away. They don’t let go.” He swallows. He’s shaking so badly it makes Jester’s arm tremble. “I give up. They leave. They go towards voices. I know it be bad if they go there. I go to find them. There is a light, and I see them. I pounce. We fight. Then I see their face.” Molly’s tail wraps tightly around his leg. Tears shimmer in the corners of his eyes. “They are me.”

“Oh, Molly…” Jester pulls him into a hug. He rests his chin on the top of her head. She can feel his shuddering breaths as he tries to keep from crying. She pats him on the back. “It’s okay. It’s just a dream. But, um, is that all that happens or is there anything else?”

Molly’s throat clenches in a swallow against her forehead. “I try to get what they took from me. I want to hit them but my fists don’t work. Too slow. Can’t hit hard.”

Jester huffs with a sympathetic groan. “Oh I _hate _dreams like that! Or the ones where you try to run really fast but it’s like you’re in water or something? It’s _awful._”

“Yeah.” Molly sways the part of his tail that isn’t attached to his ankle anxiously. Jester weaves her own tail around it. “Thank you,” he says.

“You’re welcome.” Jester pats him again. “Everything is okay, Molly. You’re awake, and if you ever get another bad dream you can come find me and I’ll…I’ll do something.” She’ll have to ask the Traveler if he knows any spells for getting rid of bad dreams. It seems like a useful thing to know, so if he had any to teach her he probably would have by now. It doesn’t hurt to ask, especially if it’ll help Molly. For now, what will help him most is a good breakfast and time with friends to help chase the memory of the dream from his mind.

Caduceus also notices Molly’s agitated state. On the road later he teaches Molly some meditation techniques he can do while sitting in the wagon. “Never really communed with the Moonweaver before,” Caduceus says. “If she’s anything like the Wildmother then this would probably work better at night, but you can practice. Sometimes when there’s too much going on in your head it’s helpful to connect to something bigger than yourself. Start by closing your eyes and taking deep breaths and focusing on everything you can smell and feel around you…”

Fortunately Caduceus keeps his eyes open, because later that day he spots a trio of stones leaning against each other in a way that he describes as “the wrong kind of random.” Everyone debates over what it could be. Molly hops out of the wagon, swords at his side but not drawn yet. Yasha reaches out to stop him, but he waves her off with a smile.

“I’ll be fine,” he says. “Just gonna go take a look.”

“Let Frumpkin do that,” Yasha pleads. “It could be a trap.”

Molly shrugs. “Could be, could not be. I’m curious.” He saunters casually over, though there’s an air of caution in his stride. There’s a rustle of grass beside him. Frumpkin has joined him, tail high and ears perked. Molly appreciates the company. They get to the stones, which are about four feet high and seem like just another pile of rocks, but if Caduceus said there was something off about them then there’s something off about them. Molly and Frumpkin inspect them. It takes a moment of searching, but Molly reaches into a gap created by how the stones lean together and his hand touches something that is definitely not supposed to be there.

It’s a satchel. It’s not very large, just a little bigger than Molly’s fist. Many little things shift inside with the gentle clink of stone on stone, but different. Molly holds it out for Frumpkin to sniff. Frumpkin flicks his tail to show it doesn’t smell dangerous. Inside are gemstones, rubies and emeralds and other little jewels, all beautifully cut. Molly waves and calls out to the others. Jester, Caleb, Nott, and Yasha come over to investigate while Caduceus, Beau, and Fjord guard the cart.

“It’s gems!” Molly says, opening the bag wider for them all to see. “Look!”

Jester gasps. “They’re so pretty!”

Caleb frowns. “What were they doing out here under a bunch of rocks?”

“Maybe someone stole them and hid them here so they could come back later,” Yasha suggests.

“Or maybe they were put here for someone else to find,” Nott says. “You know, like a drop-off.”

“Maybe,” Caleb agrees.

“We should take them!” Jester says.

Molly picks out an especially gorgeous ruby. “We could sell them and use the money to help Gustav.” His tail swishes and he frowns. “But if these were put here as some kind of deal, it would be wrong to take them. Whoever was expecting them might feel cheated, or maybe these were left as a payment for something and it’s not fair to whoever was getting paid.”

“If they were doing business in such a remote area, I doubt these were, uhm…people with good intentions,” Caleb says. “It could be as Yasha said, and these were already stolen once.”

“I guess…” Molly hefts the bag in his hand. He closes it and runs back to the cart, leaving the others to catch up in confusion. He hops in and grabs his bag while Jester explains the situation to the others. After a moment of rifling around his things, Molly procures a handful of knick-knacks and cheap trinkets. He dumps out the gems and replaces them with his things, though he takes one of each type of gem and puts them back in the bag as well. “There,” he says. “Now the gems have paid for something else.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Fjord says. “You might piss off the recipient and they’d get angry enough to kill whoever left the gems there in the first place.”

“Then we’ll leave a note,” Molly says. “It’ll say something like, ‘Find a better hiding spot next time,’ or…or whatever, just something so they’ll know it was a third party who interfered.”

They agree to that, though Jester and Beau say they should sign it from the Iron Shepherds or the Jagentoths or someone else shitty that they wouldn’t mind getting in trouble. Caleb tears a small strip off one of his pieces of paper and scribbles a quick note on it. Once it’s in the bag with Molly’s trinkets, Molly dashes back and stuffs it back into the nook where he found it. He sweeps his tail along the ground to hide his tracks. It doesn’t look great, but then again whoever else comes here will figure out that the bag was tampered with eventually. With any luck, they'll be out of the Empire by the time that happens.

* * *

Molly is in a great mood for the rest of the trip. When he isn’t doing the meditations Caduceus showed him or napping in the back of the wagon, he’s talking to Yasha about getting Gustav out of jail. They talk about their time in the carnival, occasionally answering questions posed to them by the rest of the group. Molly speaks with such confidence now. He double-checks some details with Yasha to make sure he’s remembering them correctly, but he’s almost never wrong.

It's strange being back in Trostenwald. Everything is much the same as they had left it, but a few people recognize them as they make their way to the Nestled Nook to arrange rooms for the evening. Beau keeps her ears open in case anyone is looking to start shit. She hears a few people mutter to each other about “those carnival folk” and the deaths that occurred last time they were here, but no one approaches them or asperses them or even greets them. They all go about their business, which suits Beau fine.

Yorda, the owner of the Nestled Nook Inn, is the first citizen to truly acknowledge the Mighty Nein. “Oh, would you look at that!” she exclaims. “Quite a few familiar faces! Will you be wanting anything to drink? Must have come a long way to get here.” Her expression does waver with concern at the sight of Molly and Yasha, but she maintains her affable smile.

They all order trosts, except for Jester and Caduceus who order milk. Caduceus doesn’t drink his. Molly has noticed Caduceus doesn’t drink much of anything. It worries him sometimes. He can barely think about that at the moment though. His main concern is when they’ll be able to go see Gustav. His friends assure him they’ll go once everyone has had a moment to rest and finish their drinks. Molly chugs his trost and waits with waning patience for the others to be done.

Lawmaster Norda at the stockades gives them the welcome they were expecting. “Well, nothing else has died since you lot showed up,” she says with a scowl. “When are you leaving?”

“Soon,” they assure her.

Molly steps forward. “I’m really sorry for everything that happened. None of us wanted to hurt anyone.”

Norda cocks an eyebrow at him. “Your big toad friend seemed to.”

“We didn’t know.” Molly puts his hands on her desk. She gives him a warning frown. “I swear to Erathis and the Platinum Dragon, all we wanted to do was give people a night of fun and enjoyment then be on our way. We should have realized something was wrong with Kylre and taken steps to prevent any harm. That was our only crime: carelessness.”

The Lawmaster appears unphased. “People still died, young man, good people, _my _people. Don’t think I’m gonna let your friend out just because you apologized, _two months after the fact_.” She glowers at the rest of the Mighty Nein. “So why _are _you in my office at this hour?”

“We were hoping to at least _see _Gustav,” Yasha says. She speaks softly. Norda already doesn’t like them. Yasha intends to be on her best behavior so no one will have further reason to want them gone.

“Please?” Molly adds.

Norda sighs. “Yeah, alright, I’ll give yeh that.” She grabs her keys and lead them all downstairs. Molly follows so closely at her heels that she has to turn and shoo him away a few times.

Gustav is in what might generously be called a nice cell. Though it is better furnished than the others, it is by no means luxurious. He’s in the same long coat he wore the day they left him, but he’s a little thinner and much dirtier. He is in the middle of eating some sludgy gruel when they come in. Molly dashes ahead to greet him.

“Gustav!” he exclaims, tail whipping excitedly.

“Mollymauk!” Gustav puts down his bowl and steps forward to take Molly’s hand. “My goodness, I didn’t expect to see you back here, my friend. How have you been?”

“Oh, fine, fine. Same trouble as always.”

Gustav laughs. “I would expect nothing less. And Yasha! Even more unexpected! I thought you would have run off again and finally cut loose from this rapscallion.” He smiles at her warmly. “It’s good to see you though.”

“Good to see you too, Gustav,” Yasha replies.

“We’ve come to get you out,” Molly says, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Oh.” Gustav pats Molly’s hand. “You don’t need to do that. This is my debt to pay.”

Caleb clears his throat and addressed Norda. “How erm… How much more _does_ he have to repay?”

Norda thinks for a moment. “If he keeps working as hard as he has… Ehhh… Seven or eight months?”

“That’s too long,” Molly says. “Gods, I can’t believe you even survived _two _months without going mad in here.”

Gustav chuckles. “Well, they’ve been good to me, all things considered. Really, Molly, I’m fine.”

“What about uh…remuneration?” Caleb asks. “How much money does he owe?”

“I’d have to go check the books,” Norda says in a tone that indicates she is not in the mood to do so.

“Would you please?” Caleb doesn’t want to insist or be a bother, but it’s clear this is important to Molly.

Norda rolls her eyes. “Fine.” She gestures to the two Crownsguard who are on duty in the cells. “You two, keep an eye. I’ll be right back.”

Gustav reaches out to touch Molly on the cheek. The Crownsguard put their hands on their weapons, so Gustav withdraws. “This is my burden to bear,” he says. “Really, I’m just happy to see you again.” He chuckles. “When we found you, you were practically a vegetable, and now look at you. I’m proud of you.”

Molly grins. “Oh, don’t turn sappy on me, Gustav. It doesn’t suit you. And we’re getting you out of here whether you like it or not. We look out for one another, remember? Like that time Bo basically got himself held hostage at that brothel in… Ah, well, you know I’m bad with names.”

“Yes, I remember,” Gustav says with a grin. “He shouldn’t have gone running his mouth like that, telling everyone he was some big-deal business man from Rexxentrum.”

“How did they even believe that?” Molly laughs. “He was a fine dresser, but not _capital_ fine. But how much of a tab did he run up? Twenty gold? Twenty-five?”

“Something like that, yes. Ornna wanted us to leave him behind to work it off.”

Molly taps the bars with his tail. “But we _didn’t_. We pulled out all the stops and we bailed him out, just like I’m going to get you out of here _today_.”

Beau hears Yasha sniffle. She turns in time to see a tear fall from Yasha’s eye. “What’s wrong?” Beau whispers.

Yasha covers her mouth with her hand. “I didn’t know that story,” she says quietly. “I never told it to him.”

The others hear her. A wave of excitement and relief washes through all of them. There might still be some empty corners of his mind, but Molly is getting his memories back.

Caduceus, however, steps forward. “You’ll feel better once you’re free,” he says. “Then you can go pay your _real _debt.”

Both Gustav and Molly look uncomfortable. “But…this _is _my debt,” Gustav says. He chuckles nervously. “After all, the carnival was my responsibility.”

“Maybe,” Caduceus says in that slow sure voice of his, “but you’ve got responsibilities and debts elsewhere. You can’t hide down here forever.”

The good mood everyone was in gets briefly interrupted by confusion. Before any of them can inquire as to what Caduceus is talking about, Norda comes back downstairs with a little leatherbound book. “Right,” she says. “Looking at this one, keeping tabs on what he’s been able to make, the reparations he’s made, the amounts of money he was able to have brought in from friends to help pay the debts, we’re still sitting at about uh…roughly two-thousand one hundred gold pieces.”

“_What?_” several of the Mighty Nein exclaim in unison.

“Wasn’t it two-thousand to start with?” Nott asks.

“Two-thousand six-hundred and forty-five,” Norda corrects.

“What if we paid it all right now?” Molly asks. “Would there be a discount?”

“Yes,” Caleb says. “Some sort of buyout deal?”

Norda furrows her brow. “A buyout? You’re looking to pay him off _now?_”

“You’ve spent more time with him than I have,” Caduceus says. “It’s just that he strikes me as a man who’s happier in jail than he would be out of it.”

“He’s fuckin’ weird, I’ll tell yeh that.”

Gustav and Molly murmur to each other. Molly lashes his tail insistently. Gustav raises his voice to tell the others, “You don’t have to do that.”

“How much?” Molly asks. “How much to get him free in the next five minutes?”

Norda glances from Molly to Gustav and back. “Tell yeh what, throw down seventeen-hundred gold and I’ll kick his ass out.”

Molly pulls out the sack of gems. “How much for these?”

Norda steps forward. Her eyes go wide at the sight of the rubies and emeralds. Her lips move slightly as she calculates to herself. “That’d probably be about five-hundred gold.”

Molly grins. “Great! And I can put in a hundred and fifty.”

“I’ll put down a hundred,” Caleb says.

“Me too,” says Fjord.

“I can do four-hundred,” Caduceus says. “He really does need to get out of here.”

Nott shuffles up. “I can pay the rest,” she says. She casts a sympathetic glance at Gustav. “I’ve been imprisoned before. I’ve been in hiding before. It’s no good.”

Beau walks over to Norda. “Look, I know we caused you a lot of headaches—”

“You’re one of many,” Norda grouses. “At any given point I’ve got about seventeen headaches.”

“Yeah, understandable, but we’re offering to take one of those headaches off of your list. One man in jail doesn’t do a lot for your town, but I bet fifteen-hundred would, right?”

“It’s okay, Beau,” Nott says. “We’ve got the money.”

Molly nods. “Seventeen-hundred would do more than fifteen-hundred anyway.”

After a little more negotiating and confirming that they do actually have that much gold, Gustav’s debt is paid and he walks out of there with the Mighty Nein. Norda waves them off with one last, “Don’t get anyone else killed!”

They take Gustav back to the Nestled Nook for drinks. He thanks them a few more times, growing more sincere with each one. He asks Molly and Yasha if they’d want to come with him and try to get the circus back together.

“No, sorry,” Molly says. He looks to his friends. “We’ve got a pretty good thing going on here, should probably stick with it for now.”

“Understood,” Gustav says. “I should probably tie up some loose ends, now that I have the availability to do so.” He glances at Caduceus, who nods in approval.

Gustav and Molly spend the evening getting drunk together and talking about old times. Gustav has to remind Molly of a few things, but otherwise Molly keeps up with the conversation as though he and Gustav had never been parted. The Mighty Nein watch and listen with high spirits. By the time everyone stumbles off to bed, they all rest assured knowing the same thing.

Molly is back, and ready to live life to the fullest.


End file.
